VBS

Outside the bustling city of Nairobi lies the town of Kariobangi. Like many of the outlying neighborhoods, the people of Kariobangi are plagued with economic hardships and as a result, providing your child with a quality education is often secondary to having to provide for your child the basic necessities of life. Thankfully, Missions of Hope Africa (@mohiafrica.org) has an established school and church right in the middle of the slums, which affords hundreds of families hope. 

We were asked to put on a VBS for three days for the 400 children that attend the school. We did our best by creating five stations: music, dance, Bible stories (with a hint of magic!), games, and sports. Every 20-minutes a new group of 40 children would arrive at each station. Ten groups in total which means these awesome students had to repeat their activities 10 times and carry the same amount of energy as they had with the very first group. I travelled from group to group and I can testify, every station finished as strong as they started! Servant leadership was on display through and through. The students left exhausted, sun burned, and with no voices. And they’re ready to do it all over again Tuesday and Wednesday!

During our debrief, the common theme was for as much as we may have given to these children today, the Lord gave us far more. We saw the joy, joy, joy, joy down in the students’ hearts over and over again. Their smiles were contagious, their love for us was evident, and their desire to love one another, even though they don’t have much, was enviable. Yes, we left exhausted but our hearts were full of gratitude because God allowed us to play a small part today in sharing Jesus and loving on kids.  

A huge thanks to everyone who has supported this trip with your donations and prayers. We want you to know all of the sports equipment that was donated was put to great use today. The school will also be able to give each student a new toothbrush this week, along with socks, pencils, crayons, and notepads. All because you gave. Thank you! Tomorrow I will talk about our afternoons this week which will be spent visiting the homes of these students in the slums, providing each home a Leigh’s Blanket  (https://leighsmission.com/), praying for these families, sharing our testimonies, and prayerfully sharing the Gospel!